The 50-year-old blue metal and glass building will be converted into 215 apartments and retail space, complete with a swimming pool on the rooftop and 14,000 sf of restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.

“We closed the sale last week and started construction the next day,” HRI Properties development project manager Richard Allen said. “We anticipate opening the property prior to year-end 2016.”

Most of the apartments will be one-bedroom units and the average size will be about 750 sf.

Built in 1965 as the Mayflower Building, the property originally housed insurance company offices and parking for the Sanger Harris department store across the street.